Happy New Year 2013.................

Happy New Year 2013 dearest friends......

I am so elated to be sharing some great news. 
I put the last stitches in of "And they Sinned" right after midnight.  My first finish of the year.  That green grass at the bottom seems like it takes forever and I stitched the grass right along with the motifs.  But after 6 1/2 years of having this project on the drawing board.  It is DONE!!  I stitched ATS on 30ct. over 2 on Oaten Scone linen by Legacy with the Sampler threads that it was called for.  I really love this color of linen and the colors of the sampler threads just really popped on this linen.

My last finish of 2012 was "Halloweenies".  I have ordered a frame for it and hopefully will have it framed shortly.  It was a cute piece to stitch up.  This was done on 32ct. Lambswool over 2 with the threads that it called for.  (Sorry about the wrinkles.)

Well lets just jump right into my version of the "Crazy January Challenge".
Usually stitchers gather 15 projects, and for the first 15 days of January they start a new project each day.  My take is that I usually don't get a good enough start on a project with just one day, so I take two days.  Below is my list for the "Crazy January Challenge".  I hope to take a before and after picture and post daily to keep me focused on what I am doing.

Jan. 1-2   PSS Brother's Keeper

Jan. 3-4   MC Victorian Carrier I Accessory

Jan. 5-6   MC Victorian Carrier II Accessory

Jan. 7-8   MC Victorian Carrier III Accessory

Jan. 9-10   MC Victorian Carrier IV Accessory 

Jan. 11-12   MC Victorian Carrier V Accessory

Jan. 13-14   SB Far Away

Jan. 15-16   WB Americana

Jan. 17-18   SB Blackberrie Sampler

Jan. 19-20   TT What Lies Within

Jan. 21-22   SB The Orchard

Jan. 23-24   SB Winter Hearts

Jan. 25-26   SB Advent Sampler

Jan. 27-28   SB Sophies Roses

Jan. 29-30   SB Halloween Treat Bag

The only project that I hope to complete from this list in 2013 is Brother's Keeper.  I doubt the rest of the projects will get finished in 2013 (but you never know, one can be hopeful right).

Here is a list that I complied at the first of December that I wanted to get done for 2013.

1.   And they Sinned Finished 1/1/2013

2. Halloweenies Finished 12/11/2012

3. Billy Goats Gruff (small pic.) Finished 01/27/2013

4. Billy Goats Gruff (large pic.)

5. My Son('s)

6. Sail Away Finished 05/06/2013

7. Souviner Book

8. Sampler in a Year

9. Winter Moon

10. Carried Away

11. Brother's Keeper

Looks like I am off to a great start with a couple of projects already done for the new year. As the year goes by I might add a project or two to the list.  There is two on my list above that I am only going to be doing the stitching part and the final finishing will have to wait til later as I have a list of projects that needs to be finished as well.  You can take a look at my side bar for a list of those.  I plan on doing the finishing on one project a month (hopefully).  I am a slow finisher as I still have kids at home and I don't ever have a moment of piece with out one of them calling "Mom".   So "Slow and Steady wins the race" is my motto these days. 

I am once again going to join the 2013 WIPocalypse "Revenge".  You can click here and it will take you Measi's Musings.  She is hosting this SAL.  She has added a theme a month for this year.  I don't know if I will stick with the theme or go out on my own.  I guess it depends on what I want to work on at that moment. 

I hope everyone has a safe New Year and look forward to all the stitching I will be getting done.
Thank you for visiting.

Hermit Weekend.............

Just a little up date on my hermit weekend.  I did the finishing on Swan Lake Mending Bag by Merry Cox.  This was an online class that Merry offered in June of 2010. I have had all the smalls done for over a year now.  I take it slow on my finishing and I do not rush.  I have been looking at this bag all pinned up for about 6 months now and decided that it was time to get this done.

So I jumped in sewed the bottom of the bag to the receipe card and then sewed the bag to the outside of stitched piece.  Added the cording.

I then proceeded to make the coil handles.  This was not as easy as it looked.  I needed to take the coils and then tack them to the bag.  It took me 3 hours just to do both handles.

Next step was to stitch the pocket and needle pages to the inside panels.  And Viola....finished.  I was so happy to finally get something done.

Onto my next project of finishing is Merry's "Flowers in the Fall".  I have a good start at the finishing on this project so I am hoping to get this one done soon.

Thank you for stopping by.  Take care and happy stitching.

Another finish...............

Hello stitching friends.  I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.  Made it through the parties at school and then my husband and I will celebrate Valentine's Day around our anniversary, Feb. 27th.  That way it is one big celebration.

This weekend is the 3rd weekend of the month and it is the International Hermit and Stitch weekend.  I did not check in at Random Ramblings  blog, but I am stitching in spirit this weekend.

I did finish SB Tiny Flag.  I am a member at large with the Swan Sampler Guild out of Salt Lake City, Utah.  I have met some of these ladies when I went to the Attic and they are so sweet.  I hope someday that I will be able to go to one of the meetings or classes/retreats that they offer.   For the month of February they were going to stitch SB Tiny Flag.  I had the kit and decided to join them from afar.  I started this on the 7th and finished it up just a little while ago.  You could either frame it or make it into a pin cushion.  I decided to do the pincushion.  So this will go into the pile of finishings.

I have just been plugging away on ATS....I have finally reached the bottom.  So excited that I do see me getting this done by July.  This will be nice to get this BAP done and off my list.

I will be working on Alpine Garden from the DT next.  Hope to get this one done by the end of March.  I will save a picture for next time.

On a different note.  We have a farm and had to buy a tarp for the top of our stock trailer.  I noticed that when I was helping my husband tie it down he was doing some kind of knot.  As I watched him a little bit...I said "Hey"..........."you are doing hedabo".  He said what?  I said Hedabo.  He laughed and told me what kind of knot it was...I laughed and told him that in the stitching world that is known as Hedabo.  I even showed him one of my projects that had a hedabo loop for the closure.  He said yup that is it.  Here is my husband's "Hedabo" stitch.

My little Shadow (min. dachshund) has a friend out in blog land, Ms. Limo.  I always show Shadow Ms. Limo and she seems interested in getting to know Ms. Limo a little bit more.  I know Ms. Limo has not seen a picture of Shadow, so I will share one of her wanting to jump up on my lap and blog with me.  Merumo...to bad we did not live closer..we have a fabulous dog park for play dates.

Well take care everyone.  Thank you all for visiting.  On to some finishing for the rest of the weekend.

WIPocalypse February Check In

Wow...can't beleive it is February already.  Were did January go? 

I finished two things on my list of WIP's.
They are WMN's "Quaker Needlework Treasures" which I have shared a photo below.
I am not sure what it is stitched on as I started this project a couple of years ago.
But the fiber I used was WDW Deep Sea.  The stitching part is done but will have to put this on my list of "Finishings". 
I also finished SB "Friends", which you can see a picture of it here.  This was not actually a WIP.  I started this in my CJC starts, but wanted to get it done for this year.  It went by very fast.  I used the fabric and fibers that were in the kit.
I am working on "ATS" hot an heavy right now.  I have started stitching at least one motiff a night so I can get this done by July.
I thought I would have  "Something Blue" done by this weekend, but my family just does not understand my need for stitching time.   So now my goal is by February to get this one done. 

Other stitching news....
Last Friday I signed up for the Merry Cox classes at the Attic in November.   She is my all time favorite designer.  I have taken several of her classes in Minnesota, Williamsburg, Arkansas and in Arizona.  She is a fabulous teacher and I have learned so much from her.  If you can take a class from her do so...you will not be disappointed. 
I am taking all three clases.  They are Le Nouveau Palais Royal , Sweet Little Blossoms, and her new piece that she just taught at Christmas in Williamsburg this past December So Dear to Thy Heart.  Merry will be teaching her Palais Royal set twice as I suspect the demand for this class is going to be pretty high.  (I signed up for Thursday's class, as my plan will be to fly back home on Sunday.)  Merry brought this to show the last time she taught at the Attic in 2010.  Let me tell you...it is stunning in person.  Everyone right then and there all agreed hands down that she needed to teach that one the next time she came.    There will be prestitching for these classes, and my WIP's will have to be put on the back burner for awhile until I get these done.  As you can see by the list of projects that I still have to do the finishing on, most of them are Merry's pieces.  I do a little bit in class, but I like the comfort of my home and my things for finishing.  I do have pieces that are done and I will save them to show for another time.  

I want to say thank you for stopping by.  As a newbie blogger it is so nice to read comments and personnel emails.  What a great thing this internet is to connect so many stitchers together so we can all share our passion of the needlearts.
Til next time..keep those needles a flying...........................